Zeke Shomler

Song for the Need to Devour

I am looking for some sobbing songs—
something to turn my breath into sensation
but maybe what I need to do is
rip a few things apart with my teeth.

Maybe what I need to do is
write a poem, the dirt-eating kind,
with my hands tied behind my back

while I rip a few things apart with my teeth.
This is the sobbing sound, like water
surging up through sheets of ice

because what it needs to do is find
the surface. I heard there’s a part of your brain
dedicated to hope. I think mine’s been replaced with a section

made for ripping things apart with my teeth.
This is my sobbing sensation—
this is the sound of my flesh.
I find what I need. I devour.

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Zeke Shomler is currently pursuing a combined MA/MFA at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. His work has appeared in Cordite, Sierra Nevada Review, Anodyne, Gyroscope Review and elsewhere.